1Is there not a set time of hard service for man on earth? Are not his days like the days of a hired worker?
2Like a servant who longs for the shade, and like a hired worker who waits for his pay,
3so I have been given months of emptiness, and nights of misery have been counted out to me.
4When I lie down, I say, "When will I get up, and when will the night be over?" I toss from side to side until the day dawns.
5My body is covered with worms and lumps of dust. My skin is cracked, and it is disgusting.
6My days go faster than a weaver's shuttle, and they come to an end without hope.
7Remember that my life is only a breath of wind. My eye will never see good again.
8The eye that has seen me will see me no more. Your eyes will look for me, and I will not be there.
9As a cloud fades and disappears, so the one who goes down to the grave comes up no more.
10He will never return to his house, and his place will know him no more.
11So I will not hold back my mouth. I will speak out of the anguish of my spirit. I will complain out of the bitterness of my soul.
12Am I the sea, or a sea monster, that you set a guard over me?
13When I say, "My bed will comfort me, my couch will ease my complaint,"
14then you frighten me with dreams and terrify me with visions,
15so that I would rather be strangled and die than go on living in this body.
16I hate my life. I do not want to live for ever. Leave me alone, for my days are empty.
17What is man, that you make so much of him? Why do you set your heart on him?
18Why do you come to him every morning, and test him every moment?
19How long will it be before you look away from me, and leave me alone long enough to swallow my spit?
20I have sinned. What can I do to you, you watcher of people? Why have you made me your target, so that I am a burden to myself?
21Why do you not pardon my wrongdoing and take away my sin? For soon I will lie down in the dust. You will look for me in the morning, but I will not be there.